Dileep Premachandran, again..
Ultimately, no one else can bat, bowl or field for you, but the loss of Dravid was a big blow, given Virender Sehwag's appalling run of form in the one-day game. Question marks over his commitment and attitude led to him being removed as vice-captain of the Test side, and combined with his lack of runs, there was no question of leadership from the front in the final two games. Dravid himself could do little at Durban or Cape Town, and it was clear that morale wasn't what it should be.
- agreed Dravid was not much of a factor in Durban, but guess who was at the helm when South Africa moved from 76/6 to 274/7 at Port Elizabeth?
-If morale is not what it should be, then surely, surely the captain holds some responsibility for this ? and doesn't his job description includes raising the morale?
- Whats with the hatchet job on Sehwag anyways? And the kid gloves with which Rahul is treated?
Since the tour began, there have been constant whispers of a couple of players not exactly contributing to the building of team morale. By this time, board officials should have had a word with the offenders, but it's not a healthy sign. Not everyone is a model professional like a Dravid, a Tendulkar or a Kumble, and some of the younger players have been treated shabbily by those who should be mentoring them. Halfway through such a crucial season, it remains to be seen if the disgruntled elements fall into line, or whether they pay the price.
rofl..Dileep Premachandran, your biases show ..
Monday, December 04, 2006
More Twit Speak
On Greg Chappell
At the end of the World Cup, India will need to make a decision on its controversial cricketing coach.. Here are my two cents
- Irrespective of how deep we go into the WC campaign, India needs to rethink Greg's role in the Indian cricketing establishment.
- While a great cricketing brain and a super skills coach, Greg obviously has not tapped into the pulse of his players and has had a lot of issues with motivating them. Run-ins with ex-captains haven't raised his stock either
- My vote for India's next coach will be either Darren Lehmann ( another South Australian, but with a lot more pizazz and cricketing savvy) or Ravi Shastri ( tactically astute, a shrewd cricketing brain).
- Greg has a role in the Indian cricketing establishment because of what he brings to the plate.He should, if he is willing, be moved to the NCA, or some arrangement must be put in place between the NCA and Chappellway to leverage the skills as well as mental fortitude of the next generation of India's cricketers, because this is where he adds value, unlike coaching the national team
Some Thoughts on the Test Series ( India v South Africa)
The test series between India and South Africa kicks off at Jo'burg on the 15th. It will be an interesting contest, not least because India, in the extended format of the game, can go toe to toe with the Proteas.
The South African Team
The Proteas have a potent bowling attack, and I wont be too surprised to see Dale Steyn drafted into the squad only for the shock value he provides. A bowling line up of Ntini, Pollock, Steyn, Nel and Kallis is pretty potent under any conditions, and the Proteas are playing at home, so BEWARE!!
The batting lineup will pretty much be the same as in the ODIs, with Rudolph coming in place of Kemp and Prince coming in the middle order. Smith, Gibbs, Kallis, Rudolph, Prince, DeVilliers and Boucher are a pretty good front 7.
The Wickets
The Proteas have sensed that the Indians are uncomfortable with the bounce and so I do not expect any freebies on the wicket front. Expect to see bouncy wickets, though I doubt they will be green tops.
I think the Proteas will be exposed if green tops are provided, only because the South African batting, while deep, is surprisingly fragile and India has the bowling to expose this fragility.
The Indian team
This is going to be the most contentious section of this post, and I will be flamed for this ( if anyone does read this blog :) ), but here is my lineup for the first test ( given fitness)
Sehwag
Jaffer
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman
Ganguly
Dhoni
Kumble
Zaheer
Munaf/Sreesanth
VRV Singh/Sreesanth
if Rahul is not available
Gambhir
Jaffer
Laxman
Tendulkar
Sehwag
Ganguly
Dhoni
Kumble
Zaheer
Munaf/Sreesanth
VRV Singh/Sreesanth
variations of the above ( by adding Harbhajan in the mix) can be used for the remaining tests. 2 spinners for Port Elizabeth and 4 pace 1 spin in the remaining 2 tests.
I do not know whether the Ganguly selection or the Pathan non-selection will raise hackles but here is my reasoning for this :-
Saurav Ganguly -
Now that Saurav has been drafted into the test squad, its a no-brainer that he will play. I mean, do we really want to have Saurav and Greg in the dressing room together for ALL 5 days of the match (j/k) ? That said,playing Saurav will put an end to the whole " he is the messiah"/ " he is past his sell by date" debate. If Saurav performs, he pushes his candidacy for the World Cup. If he flops, its "thank you very much, and here is your pension".
Irfan Pathan -
Pathan is, by all accounts, undergoing a major crisis of confidence. This has been a problem since the beginning of the 2006 season , and is one of the pivotal reasons for India's dismal performance in the ODI arena.
Given that he is not feeling his best, does it make sense to play him in the test series? Wouldn't it be better if he was made to train with Wasim Akram ( on tour as ESPN commentator and Pathan's early mentor) for the duration of the test series? A couple of hours everyday at the nets for the next month or so should do enuf to get some confidence back. And not being exposed to the Protean batsmen ( and getting mauled), should also soothe nerves and get the head straight. India has enuf in the pace bowling department to cover for Pathan the bowler unless the other bowlers drop like flies ( highly unlikely) and so Pathan on the bench is not such a bad deal.
Season 2007-2008 looms as a significant one in the Indian cricketing calender, one that offers both crisis and opportunity.
There is the World Cup, the 20/20 World Cup, a test series in England, an away series in Pakistan and a home and away series against Australia.
It is imperative that we have our spearhead in proper working condition for this.
Short term expediency ( read the SA series) at the cost of the long term will hurt us and hurt us badly.
Opportunity lies when India plays BD in an away series and this is where the next generation of India's middle order can be identified and tested. Ditto for a leggie and a left arm orthodox spinner.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Splitting the captaincy
Post the World Cup, the BCCI needs to seriously consider splitting the Test and ODI captaincy.
Boof for Coach?
Come 2007, Greg Chappell's contract runs out.. Boof wants to coach England.. Can we get him to coach India?
Who wants to be a bowler?
Friday, December 01, 2006
All's not well in South Africa
If you thought the Indians had problems
SA get behind Smith
Does Smith have too much power?
Publish
When Resource Management went awry
Sehwag at the crossroads
Have they lost the plot?
Greg's Dharma, decoded
A Lax ray of hope in heart of darkness
Sehwag’s fall is a VVS warning
For all the Management mumbo-jumbo mouthed by the Team Management, they have sadly overlooked Personnel Management.
There is a lesson in this, somewhere, on what not to do when dealing with individuals and teams.
Little things...
add up to a lot ( random thoughts during India's first 20/20 game at Jo'burg).
South African Innings.
- Sreesanth's 3rd ball of his first over is a wide.. to first and second slip.. who bail out and let the ball go to the boundary.
- 1st ball of Zaheer's second over. Bosman is ball watching while Smith wants a single.. Throw at the bowlers end.. Would have been out if it hit.. but the point of interest is that neither the bowler nor any of the fielders are close enuf to collect the ball and effect a run out.
- "Go out there and enjoy" says Wasim Jaffer.. About time too.
- Zaheer Khan.. you beauty!!!
- Oh dear... over #4.4 and another run out chance wasted.. to add insult to injury, overthrow given.. and the next ball crashed through midwicket for 4.
- Wicket maiden Ajit Agarkar...In a 20/20 contest..
- Its official.. Graeme Smith is Zaheer Khan's bunny.
- over#8 : Who is this imposter posing as Ajit Agarkar? a wicket, a maiden and now another wicket!!!
- over # 10 :- oh dear Ajit.. what have you done to yourself?
- over #11 :- is there something wrong with sachin's left hand?
- India on fire.. Sachin gets Kemp!!
- over 13 :- lets not lose the plot now.... 13 runs in the over.. not good
- brave... getting Harbhajan to bowl over #15.
- ooooooh!!! aggression from Sreesanth after bailing out of his bowling run.. 103/6 in 16
- oh dear!!! Sreesanth misfields.. over #17. A super over ends up being just good.
- Dinesh Kaarthick .... Energizer Bunny!!
- 126/9 SA
- Now, over to India's weakest link!!!!
- 4 in the first over.. But Sehwag is stroking the ball well.
- a lot more smiles from the Indians today
- MISFIELD!!!!! Way to go Albie!!!
- Sachin looks shaky..
- oh dear... How close was that Sehwag?
- AB deVilliers not wearing pads?
- over #3 steady Veeru.. steady now.
- over #4.. here come the chants ... "Sachin SAAAAAACHIIIIIIIIIIIIIII"
- and GOOOOOOOOOOOONE.. Sachin departs..
- Mongia at one drop.. Interesting... Maybe the county stint is the reason behind him coming up the order.
- sweet pull Mongia... Super!!!
- finally, the Indians are playing out the overs instead of trying something stupid
- over # 7 :- problems for SA.. Telemachus in some pain.
- over #7 :- good, aggressive running between the wickets..
- this is going to be interesting.. If the Indians don't lose a wicket in the next 3 overs, the pressure will be square on the Proteas for the first time this series. How will Smith react?
- Just thinking that Lalit Modi and co could use the 20/20 format in domestic cricket.. Will be a huge money spinner. Revenues generated could be used to upgrade Stadium infrastructure and also supplement the players income.. Just a little marketing and a little glitz ( Bollywood meets cricket on the sports ground), and this thing will fly.
- over #9 :- Sehwag turning it on here.
- Taking on Gibbs for that single. Nice
- over 9.3 :- SUICIDE!!!
- hang on now.... was Langeveldt holding onto the ball after the stumps were broken? remember the Harbhajan run out of Haddin in the DLF cup? This looks eerily similar.
- over #11 :- Dinesh Mongia.. sweet swing of the bat there.
- over #11 :- Dinesh Mongia using a baseball bat? Look at that bat go :-)
- over #12 :- GOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE.. Dhoni goes. another inside edge
- out comes Energizer Bunny
- over #13 :- easy now Dinesh.. the runs will come.
- over #14 :- steady.. steady.. steady
- 38 in 36 with 7 wickets.. if India botch it up from this point forward, they deserve to be dumped in the Indian Ocean.
- 33 in 30 with 7 wickets.. Energizer Bunny looks cool .. Mongia, a little edgy..
- over #16 :- oh Brian.. what a cock up!!
- 29 in 24 with 7 wickets..
- over #17.. Energizer Bunny.. you beauty!!!
- PRESSURE!!! South Africa is feeling it.. and how..
- The Indian bench is all smiles.. YAY!!!
- Robin Peterson on..Huge gamble!!!!
- And why was that required now Dinesh? After all the hard work, you toss it all away
- 18 in 14
- Scores level. INDIA cannot lose!!
Playing favorites?
"Apart from Dravid in the Cape Town game where he broke his finger, Sachin Tendulkar in Durban, and Irfan Pathan in the last game at Port Elizabeth, no batsman has shown signs of having come to grips with the conditions."
- What about this fourth gent, who scored 55 in the very same game that Rahul broke his finger?
Making the right noises..
is Venkatapathy Raju, here... Now, can he and the Board match their words with deeds?
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Some thoughts on the Team selection
Overall, a pretty balanced effort I think..
Ganguly's selection is bound to inflame passions, and it will be a pretty interesting Indian dressing room with Ganguly and Rahul and Greg. That said, from a purely cricketing point of view, Ganguly is bound to be a passenger more than anything else. If Rahul is fit and available, it will be difficult to slot Ganguly anywhere in the Team XI, unless India go with a bowler short and Ganguly becomes the 5th bowling option, something even Ganguly wont be too keen on.
Questions have been raised about what this means to the "process" so dear to Greg and Rahul, and IMHO, if the "process" is paramount, then the process should succeed irrespective of personnel. I will be dammed if the "processes" put in place are so personnel-centric that any change will derail it completely. If that is the case, what is the value add from Greg anyways?
About investment in youth, its a good thing to do.. After all, the middle order is nowhere as potent as it was a couple of years ago. And with the players ageing, and retirement not far away, it is imperative that younger players be given a chance.. But, is there a real, conscious effort to do so? But for Kaif and Yuvraj, has there been any other player who has been identified as a middle order bat and played in place of Rahul or VVS or Sachin ( when fit and available) in Test Cricket? and regarding the youth policy in ODIs, the only kid who has been persisted with, irrespective of performance, has been Suresh Raina ( under the new dispensation, that is). Robin Uthappa was tried and dumped, so was Piyush Chawla, ditto R.P Singh and VRV Singh . Besides these, what other player has been really groomed who was not part of the thinking under the previous management?
Finally, the wickets.. Or lack thereof in the Indian domestic structure.. Shashank Manohar of the "player salary to be linked to performance" fame, had no qualms getting his groundsman to prepare a green top at Nagpur.. Neither did the CAB at Kolkata.. Jamshedpur, Mohali and Hyderabad have been bouncy. So it is not that the wickets cannot be prepared.. But does the BCCI, and local associations, have the guts and gumption to do so on a regular basis? Punjab tried a green top and lost to Bengal.. To avoid relegation, wont they go for "patta" wickets in the remaining home games?
There are 30 teams playing the Ranji Trophy ( give or take a couple). Why does the BCCI not mandate that the home grounds of each of these teams be of a particular character.. Bouncy, Green, Square turner, Balanced between bat and ball ( some purchase on the first day for pacers, easing out on day 2 and 3, and turning on day 4 and 5), and patta wickets.. Balance this across all 30 teams, and let each of the teams in the Elite and plate divisions of the Ranji Trophy be exposed to each kind of wicket.
the BCCI could also mandate that the Balanced wickets be in the test match centres ( Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalaore, Chennai) and the remaining types across the board.
Its not that hard is it?
About talent search and the dearth of "quality" players in the domestic scene, why not revive the "A" tours that have been sporadic so far? The Indian domestic season runs roughly between end November through Feb.. How about this then
1. Identify a pool of 30 players, categorized into two ("A" and "B") teams,based on the performance in the Ranji domestic season.
2. Play home series against England/SA/Oz/NZ/WI/SL/Pak in the period between February through April/early May.
3. Tour England or play county/club cricket in England during the English summer. Monitor the progress of each of these players through the period.
4. Tour SA/NZ/Oz during October/November or play club cricket there during this time..Play Queensland Second XI, or Auckland or Gauteng or any of the other teams depending on tam availability.
based solely on performance, rate the players. Those who make the cut can be put on a supplementary retainer along with the national team. Those who don't make the cut always have the next year .
Make this an annual affair with all players ( on retainer or otherwise) be available for selection.
The BCCI surely has the money and the muscle to get this in place if they wanted.
Given the amount of cricket played, it is difficult to get the National team guys to play domestic cricket.. But surely, a system can be set into place in spite of them?
In closing, this bit from Sambit Bal on CricInfo :- "The average Indian cricket fan might have been fooled by the team's success in the last World Cup in South Africa but it wouldn't have been lost on the discerning few that the pitches were flat, almost designed to give India a good run."
The weakness to cope with anything outside of the norm was apparent even when India was beating all comers at home last season. But so swept in the euphoria of winning and team changes was everyone that it took a string of defeats to bring this weakness to the fore.
Master Stroke
VVS Laxman appointed vice-captain of the test team
Indian Test squad
Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman (vice-capt), Rahul Dravid (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, VRV Singh, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh.
